Texas Rangers

Summary 90-72 B

Out of nowhere swooped the Texas Rangers, claiming the lead in the weak AL West in early May, solidifying it with a blistering 21-6 June and coasting to a 9-game victory that was last below 7 games in July. They then vanquished the Rays, then the Yankees, before falling to the Giants in the World Series. New owner (and old team president) Nolan Ryan announced that they would push their starters to go “another inning” and then, with things looking good, he solidified the team by trading failing first baseman Justin Smoak for rent-a-pitcher Cliff Lee. It was a great achievement and one of the big surprises of the year (OK, not as big as San Diego).

Hitters 79.5-82.5 C

Hitting has been the Rangers traditional long suit, and pitching their Achilles heel. This year, though, the offense was pretty ordinary: Josh Hamilton was extraordinary (can you spell MVP?), and Nelson Cruz had a breakout year, but aging DH-from-the-scrapheap Vlad Guerrero was their third best hitter. Four of their nine “regulars” were below OPS+ 80, and counterbalanced the great years.

Rotation 85.25-76.75 B-

In reality the Rangers did NOT get an extraordinary number of innings from their starters, but it WAS more than previous seasons. And it was not an extraordinary group, either: CJ Wilson and Colby Lewis both pitched well all year, pretty much over-their-heads (neither is particularly young, so both results were surprising), but neither was an ace. Then came Lee and he pitched fine, but no better than the other two. All three turned it on in the postseason, of course, so that is what we remember. Scott Feldman was BAD, and probably the most promising pitcher was Tommy Hunter, who, at 23, showed that he can get major leaguers out with consistency. A good but hardly great staff.

Bullpen 139/481 A-

In reality, HERE was the real strength of the team. Naftali Feliz, installed at 22 as the closer, was phenomenal. The two Darrens (O’Day and Oliver) set up for him very well, and Francisco and Nippert contributed as well. The rotation deserved an 85-77 record with an average offense, which they got, and an average bullpen. But the bullpen was far above average, and raised that number to 90, which put the Rangers on top.

Charts

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